Increasing the circularity of bio-based sector: upcycling and recycling for higher value and environmental benefits

This destination will support the EU Commission priorities ‘Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature’ and ‘A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness’.

The destination supports the EU Green Deal^[1] and contributes to Europe’s competitiveness and sustainable prosperity by supporting the development of a more resilient circular economy in line with the EU Competitiveness Compass^[2], the announced EU Clean Industrial Deal^[3] and the EU Circular Economy Act.

It aims to increase market demand for secondary materials and establish a single market for waste, whilst enhancing Europe’s efforts to develop a single market for sustainable products. It will also support the implementation of the framework conditions set by the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy.

Furthermore, the destination aims to facilitate the emergence and uptake of innovative, circular and bio-based materials, products, processes and value chains that play a key role for the defossilisation (reduction of feedstocks of fossil origin), climate neutrality and strategic autonomy of our economy, in line with the new EU bioeconomy strategy as well as with the New European Bauhaus.

In addition, this destination supports several key EU policies including the industrial strategy, the European Chemicals Industry Action Plan^[4] and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation^[5] and its working plan.

It also contributes to the EU Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, the SME strategy, the communication on safe and sustainable by design framework, the sustainable blue economy, the European Ocean Pact^[6], the European Water Resilience Strategy^[7], the European Life Sciences Strategy, the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, and the Nature Restoration Regulation.

Further support extends to the CAP, the EU forest strategy for 2030, the proposal for a Regulation on a forest monitoring framework, the EU proposal for a directive on soil monitoring and resilience, and the Vision for Agriculture and Food.

The destination supports unlocking the unique assets for research and innovation of the EU outermost regions, in line with the EU strategy for outermost regions^[8].

Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination. For additional information please see “Restrictions on the participation of legal entities established in China” found in General Annex B of the General Annexes.

Expected impact: Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway contributing to “achieving healthy soils and forests, as well as clean air, fresh and marine water, whilst ensuring water resilience and the transition to a clean, competitive and circular economy and sustainable bioeconomy”, and more specifically to one or more of the following expected impacts:

• Improved climate change adaptation and mitigation through the transition to a more sustainable and circular economy and bioeconomy, underpinned by biotechnologies and sustainable industrial solutions, such as carbon capture and utilisation and recovery of materials, water and energy.
• Industrial competitiveness, sustainability and strategic autonomy are improved through the development of safe, sustainable, circular and/or bio-based value chains. This is done by promoting the efficient and circular use of secondary materials and water, fostering the multi-functionality of forests, and ensuring the sustainable supply of critical resources from land and sea.
• Living conditions for individuals and communities are improved through innovative, affordable and sustainable safe and sustainable by design products and services based on circular and/or bio-based solutions while demonstrating a reduction of environmental and climate pressures.
• Advanced societal transformation based on a systemic approach, as well as people’s involvement and integration of social sciences and humanities for fair, safe, sustainable and circular value chains, sustainable consumption patterns, environmental justice, gender equality and social inclusion.

[1] The European Green Deal - European Commission

[2] https://commission.europa.eu/topics/eu-competitiveness/competitiveness-compass_en

[3] Clean Industrial Deal - European Commission

[4] European Chemicals Industry Action Plan – European Commission

[5] Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation – European Commission

[6] The European Ocean Pact - European Commission

[7] Water resilience strategy - European Commission

[8] COM(2022) Putting people first, securing sustainable and inclusive growth, unlocking the potential of the EU’s outermost regions.

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• European industry’s competitiveness, decarbonisation, and strategic autonomy are enhanced through the development and deployment of safe, sustainable, circular and bio-based value chains;
• improved climate change adaptation and mitigation and overall environmental sustainability, as well as higher resource efficiency, through application of biotechnologies and industrial symbiosis, and recovery of biological materials, water and energy.

Scope:

The projects under this topic are relevant to the EU policies related to the Commission communication on: Building the future with nature: Boosting Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing in the EU, the Life Sciences Strategy, the EU Biotech Act, Clean Industrial Deal and the SME Strategy. It also contributes to the Start-ups and Scale-ups strategy. Synergies with activities under the Circular Bio-based Europe (CBE) Joint Undertaking^[1] and New European Bauhaus are strongly encouraged, while taking care to avoid overlaps.

Proposals should address the following activities:

• develop and deploy/scale-up safe and sustainable, circular and bio-based materials, products, processes and value chains, e.g. including but not limited to the construction, packaging, pulp and paper, textile sectors, or other bio-based consumer products, using upcycled and recycled resources incorporating secondary raw materials with minimal quality loss, aiming at best environmental performance, while increasing the uptake of recycled materials and preventing waste through repair, refurbishment, and reuse, and paying attention to environmental and health risks and trade-offs due to treated or impregnated bio-based materials, where relevant. Bioenergy/biofuels sector is not in scope, but synergies with this sector can be considered while respecting the cascading biomass valorisation principle and aiming at the industrial symbiosis;
• develop innovative new, or upgraded existing, circular solutions to tackle complex bio-waste streams and create markets for bio-waste materials by transforming them into valuable secondary resources, while fostering urban/rural/coastal industrial symbiosis, providing data and digital tools and promoting a more efficient use of bio-based resources;
• develop a ‘digital marketplace’, ensuring convergence with the digital technology, tools and applications, to enhance accessibility and traceability of bio-based resources, promoting efficient and sustainable resource management;
• provide recommendations for the development of bio-based product value chains, based on the identified and analysed needs of stakeholders in terms of national and European regulations and standards, financial incentives, professional trainings, etc.

While the main focus of this topic is not the gaseous carbon conversion (see parallel topic HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-08: Biotechnology application for CCU), this technology can be considered as part of the whole value chain approach to increase environmental and economic impact, e.g. as part of the cascading biomass conversion, taking care to avoid overlaps and seek synergies. Synergy and cooperation with the parallel topics HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-CIRCBIO-02: Enhancing ecodesign and circularity of construction products and HORIZON-MISS-2027-03-OCEAN-02: Circularity of seafood supply chain are strongly encouraged.

Proposals are encouraged to build on the knowledge and results of completed and ongoing EU-funded projects. Cooperation between all proposals funded under this topic should also be foreseen, as a specific task, with an allocation of resources, for synergies.

This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and involvement of SSH experts in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities. This can cover the educational aspect, to facilitate knowledge promotion within different target groups (e.g. students, industry, society). International cooperation is encouraged.

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[1] Such as the topics HORIZON-JU-CBE-2025-IAFlag-03: Circular-by-design fibre-based packaging with improved properties, HORIZON-JU-CBE-2025-IAFlag-01:Urban-industrial symbiosis for bio-waste valorisation, etc.